


A House Call

by athirstygoil



Series: Side-Stories from A Rogue What?! [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Longing, Manipulation, One-Sided Relationship, Unhealthy Relationships, Unrequited Love, depiction of surgery on a fabric body, implied self-induced mutilation, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-12-09 15:02:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20996753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athirstygoil/pseuds/athirstygoil
Summary: Tuffet gives the Mad Dummy a face-lift.





	A House Call

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place between chapter 7 and 8 of A Rogue What?! 
> 
> I've wanted to expand on the Mad Dummy for a while now, and like most others, I also wanted to add a bit more character to one already considered quite minor. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! c:

As the first ever establishment for refurbishing and upholstery repairs, Hassocks was open late, as per the usual. Monsters who didn’t craft their own furniture used what they could, but when it came to furnishings that were almost thoroughly ruined (as Human garbage was plentiful), they came to Hassocks. Their clientele ranged from furniture and carpets to monsters who chose fabric exteriors. It wasn’t exactly what Tuffet wanted when she moved to the Capital, but it was a need greater than most monsters thought to acknowledge, and for that she was proud she made her mark.

When her hours weren’t as demanding and when her apprentices were caught up on all their work, sometimes Tuffet also took “house calls,” where a client would call for her to venture out of her shop to fix them (if not their upholstery) up personally. The house calls themselves weren’t as frequent from when she first began taking them, but so long as her client paid for her transportation as well as the cost of their mend, Tuffet was more than willing to go the extra mile for them. 

Most of her fabric clients took care of their exteriors quite well, so she never needed to check up on them more than a few times a month. The one working under the Captain though, that was another story. Tuffet visited Undyne’s home more times than she could count, and that was using all six of her hands. Madds always seemed to have a new injury grievous enough to warrant immediate retirement. But they never once suggested their desire to. Madds complained loudly, of course, but never to an extreme extent as quitting.

Since she began taking their house calls, Tuffet was proud to say at first glance, one couldn’t tell where their first mends began. Madds wore the repairs quite beautifully, but in later appointments had been requesting more visible stitches, as well as more variety in fabric choices. Tuffet of course, agreed so long as she were reimbursed for bringing along her trunk of fabric bolts  _ as well as _ her portable repair kit. It also meant practicing more creative means of restoration, but she found it less tedious when it was something she was meaning to do in the first place. 

Tuffet smoothed the bangs covering her forehead eyes back and pinned them out of her face. Stretching her multiple arms in different positions, she cracked two sets of knuckles while the third set tied her hair back. She looked her client over, a plan already formulating.

“When your boss mentioned the details of this current job, she wasn’t joking,” she noted, surveying the damage. Taking out a notebook, she clicked a pen and began sketching out a new patch for Madd’s face.

“YEAH WELL,” they loudly stated, “EV’RY CUT AND SHIT IS KINDA...SHIT Y’KNOW.” Their face had caved into itself since Undyne made the call, and Tuffet had to help salvage what stuffing they had spewed since the accident. Tuffet nodded in understanding, rifling through her trunk of fabric to find an appropriate color. 

“Do you prefer a similar color this time or do you wish to deviate a bit?” Madds hopped over to peek at the contents, half of their face sagging from the lack of structure. 

“D’YA HAVE ANYTHIN’ IN RED?” Tuffet rummaged a bit before pulling out three bolts of red fabric.

“Hideous, horrendous, or stripes?” she teased. Madds laughed out loud despite their half-filled face.

“HORR’NDOUS!” Smiling, Tuffet returned the two other bolts and produced their chosen color. 

“Does she know I don’t do much house calls nowadays?” she asked herself aloud.

“WELL Y’KNOW  _ I’M _ YER FAV’RITE, TUFFS.” Rolling her eyes, Tuffet adjusted her magnifying spectacles.

“My most well-used customer, I would say,” she corrected with a smile. Pins at the ready in one hand, Tuffet began snipping the sketched pattern with another set of hands, and preparing a needle with the other. Needle strung, and now on a different hand with the pin cushion, Tuffet opened a free set of arms over to the dummy invitingly. 

“Alright Dear, let’s see that pretty face.” Head flopping, Madds allowed her to cup their ruined face. Looking them over, Tuffet tilted her head back and noted the worst of it.

“I’ll need to clean up the rip, Dear,” she commented solemnly. If they had a throat, Madds would be swallowing. Instead, they offered a short nod, and turned that side of their face to Tuffet. Holding their head steady with one hand, Tuffet snipped at the frayed fabric with sharp scissors.

While one set of hands pinned the pattern to the fabric, the second cut the new cheek patch out. Holding the new part up to their face, Tuffet examined the angles, and visualized how it would work once stuffed.

“Now, this side may feel numb for a while until your Soul accepts the new fabric, but otherwise, you’ll be good as new.” Madds grinned with the working side of their face.

“Y’ALWAYS DO ME GOOD, TUFF. I OUGHTA GIVE Y’A TIP.” Tuffet waved it away.

“Oh please, you do enough. I just hope the next I see you it’s not this serious.”

Madds about howled with laughter, as the needle pricked into the cleanly cut fabric of their face.

“NO PROMISES, CHIEF,” they coughed, wincing only a little bit as Tuffet sewed the patch to their face. A free set of hands carefully stuffed their face again until the fullness slowly returned.

“Madds, I’m curious. Out of all of my other clients, you seem to have the most...use.”

“NO NEED TA BE POLITE TUFFS, TELL’IT TA ME STRAIGHT.” How their voice could still be so loud despite the lack of stuffing appalled Tuffet, but Madds became clearer once the fabric skin was at max capacity.

“Undyne isn’t intentionally hurting you, is she? I mean, I know the pay is good but...” she paused contemplatively, turning their face gently to secure more stuffing. “Every time I see you the amount of repairs I have to do are becoming more extreme.”

The last repairs she did was to replicate one of Madds’ eyes and re-stuff almost their entire upper torso portion. How they lost so much stuffing to begin with was already half the mystery. Madds never gave her the full story though, not once. And it frustrated her to no end.

“Comes wid tha job Tuffs,” Madds huffed, a decibel or two quieter. “I know what I signed up fer. Y’can’t prepare fer  _ ev’rythin’. _ ”

Tuffet frowned, and chittered wordlessly to herself.

“WUH WAZ THAT?” Madds clarified.

“It’s  _ not that simple _ ,” Tuffet repeated in Common. “If you  _ know _ what this job is  _ supposed  _ to be, and what the expectations are,” she added, “then why all of a sudden the worst seems to happen  _ all the time? _ ”

“LOOK, IF YER WORRIED ‘BOUT ME, Y’CAN JUST SAY IT,” Madds chuckled as Tuffet finished knotting her thread.

“I’m concerned for your overall wellbeing, Madds,” she said pointedly, “but not in the way you might suggest.”

A silence engulfed the two as Tuffet snipped the thread. Her forehead eyes glowered at the Dummy while the rest focused on analyzing the completed piece. Madds watched her.

“You can’t keep doing this, Madds,” Tuffet stiffly spoke. 

“DUNNO WHAT YA MEAN,” they commented innocently.

“If this is in fact what I think you’re doing, I’ll have to tell Undyne herself I  _ will refuse  _ the next house call.” Madds’ fabric face immediately fell.

“LEMME EXPLAIN--”

“Well, it’s been a pleasure,” she interrupted, “but I must be off.” Packing her trunk, Tuffet popped her back and turned to leave.

“TUFFET WAIT.”

“The next ferry to the Capital leaves soon, I must get going.” 

“C’MON WE DON’T GOT TIME TA TALK LIKE WE USED TA,” they pleadingly hopped to her side.

“Now Dear,” she turned with a mockingly stiff smile, “I know you understand why I can’t.”

“Y’KNOW TOO, YEAH?” they sheepishly hopped closer. “I DON’T WANTCHA THINKIN’ I’M SOME CREEP, TUFFS.  _ I AIN’T. _ I--”

“Madds, I’m not looking for a relationship right now,” Tuffet brushed them off, “I have a business to think about. I have my  _ family _ to help.”

“WHY D’YA DO THIS T’YOURSELF?” Madds erupted, “YOU DON’T HAFTA HELP THEM! Y’GOT YERSELF OUT! WHAT MAKES YA THINK IT’S WORTH IT?!”

Pupils shrinking, Tuffet whirled around.

“Spider kind does  _ not  _ have to suffer just because they can’t survive the ice of Snowdin!” she countered. 

“YOU’RE TALKIN’ LIKE THAT BITCH Y’CALL A SISTER!” Madds accused, “YER NOTHING LIKE HER! WHY D’YA GOTTA MAKE HER GOALS YERS TOO?”

“Muffet is doing her best too!” Tuffet defended, “How dare you compare me to her! There’s so many spiders trapped there! The Ruins aren’t--they can’t--”

“Y’GOT YERSELF OUT,” Madds emphasized. “Y’DON’T OWE’EM  _ SHIT! _ ”

“They’re my  _ family, _ Madds,” Tuffet choked. “Muffet’s doing so much--saving up all her earnings and still--”

“ASSHOLES AREN’T WORTH YER FUCKING TIME IF THEY EXPECT YA TA KISS THEIR FUCKING ABDOMENS!” Shaking their new face, Madds fumed. “IT AIN’T RIGHT, TUFF, IT AIN’T--”

“ _ Then what am I supposed to do?! _ ” Tuffet cried out. “Once they’re out of the Ruins, they’ll come after me if they find out. You  _ know  _ how spiders can get into anything! They have  _ methods _ of infiltrating that make them the best spies!”

“I CAN PROTECT YA!” Madds offered. “I’LL LEAVE AND I’LL HELP YA!”

“I can’t--I _ can’t take that from you, _ ” Tuffet refused. “You’re  _ safe _ here. You’ll just get yourself in danger.”

“TUFFET, PLEASE.” 

“It’s better this way, Madds,” she choked out the words with as much resolve as she could. “Please, don’t make this harder than it has to be.” Tuffet turned her back on them, and the rage built within the Dummy before they managed to release it all out in a slow exhale.

“YER YER OWN MONSTER, TUFFS,” Madds seethed, as the distance between them grew. “WHEN YER DONE WITH OBLIGATIONS AND FAMILY BUSINESS AND SHIT, I’LL BE HERE.” Hopping back to their station, Madds mumbled loudly.

“I’ll be here.”

Madds watched Tuffet disappear around the corner, her trunk rolling behind her as the wheels tossed pebbles aside. The path to the Ferry-person’s station was close by. In minutes she would be gone once more.

Madds tilted their head into their torso and cursed under their breath.

They blew it. Big time.

They had wanted to start a business together, back before Madds’ gig with Undyne. Back before business was booming. Hassocks was going to be a tailor shop. Madds was to be her model, a mannequin. But times had changed. They had parted ways. Madds never had a need for a phone, and Tuffet was always busy. The only time they could speak personally was during client house calls. And even then, Madds knew she wouldn’t be taking them, if ever, now. Not after today at least.

Madds needed to be more careful. Tuffet was already onto them. If she suspected they were doing this all on purpose, there would be no point in letting all those little injuries happen in the first place.

They wouldn’t be able to see her anymore.

Madds let out a breath.

They just needed a little more time to convince her is all.

They just needed more  _ time... _

The red patch on their face tingled where the needle had pricked them. If they could blush, Madds would think they’d end up as red as their new cheek.

Next time they’ll tell her. 

Next time.


End file.
